Today I am part of the blog tour for The Edge of Sanity by Sheryl Browne with a review.
Synopsis
How far would YOU go to protect your family?
A decent, ordinary man, a man who has already suffered the loss of one child, Daniel Conner is forced by extraordinary circumstances into being a hero. Tortured, forcibly drugged—heroin still pulsating nauseatingly through his veins—his wife and daughter degraded, Daniel knows their kidnapper is beyond reasoning with.
But does being pushed one step beyond endurance justify doing the unthinkable?
High on drugs, indebted to his supplier, and desperate, Charlie Roberts takes Daniel's wife and daughter hostage. Daniel does everything within his power to rescue the situation bloodlessly. Eventually though, Daniel realises that with or without violent mood swings induced by amphetamines and cocaine, Charlie Roberts is a psychopath. He wants more than Daniel's money.
He wants him.
A decent, ordinary man, a man who has already suffered the loss of one child, Daniel Conner is forced by extraordinary circumstances into being a hero. Tortured, forcibly drugged—heroin still pulsating nauseatingly through his veins—his wife and daughter degraded, Daniel knows their kidnapper is beyond reasoning with.
But does being pushed one step beyond endurance justify doing the unthinkable?
High on drugs, indebted to his supplier, and desperate, Charlie Roberts takes Daniel's wife and daughter hostage. Daniel does everything within his power to rescue the situation bloodlessly. Eventually though, Daniel realises that with or without violent mood swings induced by amphetamines and cocaine, Charlie Roberts is a psychopath. He wants more than Daniel's money.
He wants him.
Review
This was Sherly's first attempt at writing in the crime genre and I think she did a really good job! I have read her previous novel Somebody to Love which was, as you can tell by the title was very much in the romance genre. So to her previous readers, don't expect anything light and fluffy as this is anything but!
The Edge of Sanity is a gritty, emotional novel about how the loss of a child greatly affects one family. Daniel, Jo and Kayla's world has been torn apart since Emma's death. Daniel and Jo's relationship is in a bad way, with Jo blaming Daniel for the loss of Emma and the communication between them is in tatters. Kayla their 15 year daughter has become a tearaway teen and gets herself into dangerous situations, one of them that lands her whole family in danger by getting involved with Charlie, a man who only thinks of himself.
Charlie is a truly loathsome character. He has no redeeming qualities whatsoever and I hated him. I think he is one the worst characters I have ever come across and I thought Sheryl wrote him brilliantly as this is exactly how we are supposed to feel about him. All the time I was reading The Edge of Sanity, I desperately wanted him to have his comeuppance just like DI Scott wants.
This is a great novel for those looking for something suspenseful and a bit darker and at times I had to remind myself that this was written by the same author who wrote Somebody to Love; it was that different. Really cleverly done, but I think I will go back to Sheryl's more lighthearted novels :)
3.5/5
Thank you so much for your fabulous review, Laura. I really appreciate you reading and reviewing The Edge of Sanity. Charlie's not very nice, is he? Hope he didn't give you nightmares. :) xx
ReplyDeleteThis sounds really good Laura! I love an occasional dark and gritty book, and this sounds like just the one. It's always awesome when an author you enjoy manages to write another spectacular series, right? :D Charlie sounds like quite an unkind and almost scary character though!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Laura, and, as always, BRILLIANT review! <3
~ Zoe @ The Infinite To-Read Shelf